Effective Brand Image Creation: Associating One or Multiple Attributes With a Brand?

What is it about?

Consumers typically associate a brand with certain attributes, which results from marketing efforts to create a distinct brand image in consumers’ minds by repeatedly pairing the brand with these attributes (e.g., a sports brand logo being shown together with athletic models). Our research shows that it is more effective for brand image building if a brand is paired with one core attribute only compared to when it is paired with multiple attributes. If multiple attributes are paired with a brand, the resulting brand-attribute associations are stronger when the attributes are related (e.g., athletic and healthy) compared to when they are unrelated (e.g., athletic and smart). We further show that brands that are associated with two unrelated attributes are perceived as more complex, which in turn is associated with higher risk perceptions of the brand and lower purchase preference and purchase behavior.

Featured Image

Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash

Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings provide practical implications for effective brand image creation. Yet unknown companies that start creating brand-attribute associations to build their brand image or existing companies that aim to reposition their brand can do so most effectively by associating their brand with only one core attribute. If multiple attributes are considered for building the brand image, stronger brand-attribute associations for consumers are achieved when the attributes are related compared to when they are unrelated.

Perspectives